Three Links

The Three Links or Three Linkages (Chinese: 三通; Pinyin: sān tōng) was a 1979 proposal from the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to open up postal (通郵/通邮 tōng yóu), transportation (especially airline) (通航 tōng háng), and trade (通商 tōng shāng) links between China and Taiwan, with the goal of unifying China and Taiwan.

Before the establishment of the "Three Links", communication between the two sides were routed through intermediate destinations, primarily Hong Kong; Macau; Jeju, South Korea and Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The "Three Links" were officially established on 15 December 2008, with the commencement of direct flights, shipping and post.

History

Proposal

In December 1978 after Deng Xiaoping and his supporters won the Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, it started China's economic reform. This also began a new direction in the PRC's foreign policy. On January 1, 1979 Beijing proposed the Three Links of postal, commercial and transportation. It was also proposed together with the Four flows/Four exchanges which included relatives, tourists, academic groups, cultural groups and sports representatives. This was greeted in Taiwan by Republic of China (ROC) President Chiang Ching-kuo’s Three Noes.